1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in general to an exteriorly positional anatomical brace for stabilizing a pivoting joint. Specifically, the brace includes a cuff having multiple adjustment zones allowing a user to tighten or loosen the brace. The brace prevents hyperextension of joint ligaments by communicating the movement of a first limb structure to a second limb structure.
2. Description
The health and well-being of all joints in the human body are susceptible to disease and injury. The human body contains many joints throughout the body; however one joint in particular is very susceptible to injury, namely, the knee joint. The knee joint is located on a leg and connects the femur to the tibia. Other bones surrounding the knee joint include the patella and the fibula. The bones of the knee joint are held together by four ligaments, namely the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and lateral collateral ligament. An injury to the knee involves a strain or tear in any of the above-mentioned ligaments.
An injury to the knee joint may occur during normal, everyday activity. A simple misstep or twist in the wrong direction could strain or tear a ligament. However, injury is more likely to occur during sports related activities. During such activities, large forces may be applied to the joint, thereby causing a strain or tear in one or more of the ligaments. For example, in football, as players are tackled, a player may sustain a hit directly to his knee; in basketball, players apply forces to their knees when they routinely change their direction by planting their foot and quickly changing their course. However, one sport that can particularly cause considerable injury to a knee is motocross. In motocross, a rider's knee acts as a shock absorber as the rider traverses over a course's rough terrain by landing large jumps, or maneuvering through a series of bumps. In addition to acting as a shock absorber, a rider's knee is susceptible to sudden twists which can cause injury. For instance, as a rider moves through the course, his foot may get caught in the dirt, thereby twisting the rider's knee.
Whatever the activity may be, one can mitigate the chance of injuring a joint by fitting a brace around the joint. Athletes have been protecting their knees by wearing knee braces for years. A knee brace protects the knee joint by stabilizing the bones surrounding the knee. By stabilizing the movement of the bones, the changes of straining or tearing a ligament is lessened.
In the related art, most braces include an upper frame member attached to a first limb structure and a lower frame member attached to a second limb structure. Each frame member typically includes an adjustable cuff positionable on a concave surface of the joint. The cuff can be tightened to secure the frame member to its respective limb structure.
Despite the protection offered by most braces, injuries to joints continue to occur. A number of injuries occur because of the lack of protection on the concave surface of the joint. Chief among such injuries are hyperextensions of the knee ligaments. Hyperextensions continue to occur despite the presence of a knee brace because of the lack of support and stabilization on the concave surface of the joint. The typical knee brace does not stabilize the rearward movement of the first limb structure relative to the second limb structure. As such, there is a need in the art for an improved knee brace that prevents hyperextension of the joint by preventing the rearward movement of the first and second limb structures relative to each other.